… Medvedev expects modest growth in the economy early 2017 …. The Russian economy has struggled following the introduction of international sanctions against Moscow in 2014 over its role in the Ukraine crisis. … According to a Reuters poll, Russian inflation will fall to just over 6 percent by the end of the year as monetary policy is kept tight, but next year the central bank will struggle to meet its 4 percent inflation target. … [GDP] is expected to fall 0.5 percent this year before returning to 0.8 percent growth in 2017, according to government forecasts.